A Very Colourful Business
I would have thought that making pom poms was a business, where nimble Asian fingers were needed in a sweat shop somewhere East of the Gulf.
So I was surprised to see on the local BBC News that a lady has started a business called Paperpoms UK to make them in South London.
And it looks like she’s being successful!
So don’t ever knock a business idea because it seems a bit odd or very niche market!
Certainly, the free publicity tonight from the BBC, won’t hinder their success.
Supporting Aston Villa Is Much More Stressful Than Being Governor Of The Bank Of England
This is a quote from Mervyn King, in an article in the New Statesman.
I think he ducked the match at Villa Park yesterday, as he was making a speech in Belfast.
Improving Banking Security
There is an article about the security level of chip and pin on the BBC’s web site. It got me thinking.
I am careful with my bank debit and credit cards and feel that with on-line banking, not enough is done to create a more flexible and much more secure system, by using the power of the servers to make things difficult for a criminal.
Logging In
I always log in from memory, rather than use the little machine that my bank gave me. As the customer number and passwords are not written down anywhere, even with the card and the machine, it would be difficult to log in to my account, unless they had co-operation from someone inside the bank.
There is a big flaw in the bank’s security, in the fact that all the machines are identical, which means criminals only have to get one to use this method of logging in, if they have a stolen debit card and the customer number. I needed a new one and just went into a branch and asked for one. They didn’t ask me any questions, before I got a new one.
I very much like the login system used by Zopa. It is very secure and very simple, and I would suspect most people would not need to write anything down to login first time. Something, you can’t say about many systems I’ve seen.
Restricting Cash Withdrawals
I have never understood why thee is nowhere in your on-line banking account, where you can set parameters about how and where you can draw money out through cash machines.
In a simple case, you might impose limits on the amount of money that could be withdrawn at any one time, or say in a week or month.
I would impose a limit of up to a hundred at any one time. If I needed more, I could always change the limit. You wouldn’t want to make it too complicated, as it would start to get onerous.
Better Bank Statements
When I look at my bank statement on-line, the cash withdrawals, just say how much I’ve withdrawn and the name of the bank. Some of the direct debits are well documented either.
it would be very easy to say give every cash point machine a unique reference, so when you checked the statement, you would quickly notice a transaction that was perhaps done with a cloned card.
The more information you gave customers, the more likely they would be to spot something that wasn’t correct.
An Emergency Pin Number
You hear stories about criminals threatening cash point users and getting them to draw money out. So why not have an emergency pin number, that smallows the card, perhaps gives out a few pounds and then says something like.
This machine as run out of money, please try another machine.
Whatever the system did would have to be carefully thought out, to avoid the criminal taking it out on the victim.
SMS Confirmation Of Bigger Transactions
I’ve never understood, why this couldn’t be done, as any message relating to a purchase you hadn’t made, would give you warning.
I’ve always felt that this would be very effective, even if only a few cards were setup this way. But would criminals take the chance of using a card that was, when it might start an immediate chase.
In some ways, what seems to be sad is that all on-line banking is so similar, when there are so many things that can be done to make the system much more secure for both the bank and its customers.
Banks are just so conservative and don’t innovate. Which is why they’re going to fail even more.
The Arches Underneath
I had gone to London Fields station to find the E5 Bakehouse, that delivers bread to the pub next door. I hadn’t expected this line of railway arches, that had been creatively turned into small business units.
The E5 Bakehouse has a rather good cafe and I had an excellent cup of tea before moving on. There was no gluten-free bread or cakes, but there was at the Happy Kitchen.
I bought a cake for later and it was certainly worth the couple of pounds I paid for it. They said it was a bit stale and that they would have some new ones tomorrow, which they were baking for their stall in Broadway Market.
My one problem with the cake, was that if this was a stale one, just how good is a freshly-baked one? I shall go and get another in a few days.
As I look back on my visit to this immaculate row of railway arches, I can imagine C, my late wife, swooning over that bread in the bakehouse and I was almost feeling resentful at being a coeliac. But then I did have that glorious cake!
Good luck to all, who try to run a business in these difficult times! And especially those, in a small niche market like gluten and everything else free cakes. Except of course quality!
Revolutionary Technology
I took this picture of HMV at The Angel.
Revolutionary Technology
Note the banner.
Revolutionary Technology in-store now
I thought that was what they sold; records. CDs and DVDs that go round and round!
They just don’t seem to be very successful at it!
Camelot Increases The Tax On The Poor
Camelot is being reported as doubling the cost of playing the National lottery to £2, but with bigger prizes. It’s all here in the Guardian.
I suppose it will tend to absorb all of those dreaded £2 coins that I don’t like!
I wonder how long the National Lottery will last.
Now Blockbuster Bombs
Now Blockbuster seems to have gone bust.
It certainly wasn’t my custom that kept them afloat for so long.
I think, I may have rented a video a couple of times, many years ago, but who does now?
If I want to see a film, I go to the cinema and have a full experience.
How many now to fill a whole in the evening’s viewing turn to the BBC’s iPlayer and the other channels’ equivalents.
Comet, Jessops and HMV
I don’t think in the last seven or so years, I’ve ever used any of these shops. I certainly haven’t since C died.
In fact, my last camera was bought in John Lewis, as was my last computer and most of the goods one traditionally bought at Comet.
And as I rarely listen to music these days, I don’t have a need for HMV or their on-line alternatives.
Now I know that my non-purchases didn’t push them over the edge, but we live in times, where every purchase is made with care, either for financial reasons or just for those of style and taste. Goods too, last longer.
Britain’s Favourite Shopkeepers To Invade Europe
I picked up this story about John Lewis in the Sunday Times, but it’s in more detail here in the FT.
Not only are they going to have foreign language web sites, but they are talking of having stores in Europe. There first venture is Waitrose in Jersey. Hardly a risk, as most of the customers will probably speak English, but typical of the John Lewis softly-softly approach.
Do People Pay Off Loans At The End Of The Year?
Looking at my Zopa figures it seems to show that more loans are paid up early around the turn of the year.
I can’t get any decent figures from my database, but it could be that at that time, people take a hard look at their finances and other factors might come in, such as parents paying off their children’s loans as a Christmas present.
Or it could be a one off effect this year as the Bank of England has said that mortgage lending has increased.
On the other hand, Zopa still seems to be lending money at the same rate, so perhaps the losers in this pincer movement are those providing traditional loans and overdrafts.
The Anonymous Widower 